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Kristin Stordahl: Early school start times harm education

Posted:
01/21/2013 01:00:00 AM MST

I read with interest the article about the new GPS tracking system the St. Vrain Valley School District will be implementing later this year (GPS, bus passes to show where St. Vrain Valley School District students get on, off school buses, Jan. 5).

I should be happy that parents will now have a way to find their missing children, but all I could think about was the fact that my 11 year old son will need to get on the bus even earlier each day and that his 45 minute bus ride will certainly be extended to an hour or more.

I am also left scratching my head as to how to get him to bed even earlier than 9 p.m. for the next seven years in order to get up and out the door at 6:35 a.m. (earlier soon) to catch the bus to our neighborhood school. I urge Don Haddad and the St. Vrain Valley School District administrators to take a look at study after study regarding the circadian rhythms of teens and pre-teens and change the start times of the middle and high schools in St. Vrain Valley.

In the era of standardized testing and with the importance of these scores to the funding of our public schools, I would think that the administrators would like to do everything within their power to make learning a priority.

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Arguments against change will certainly arise regarding after school sports and work schedules. These can easily be changed -- our teens' natural body clocks cannot. Please join me in encouraging this change by contacting Don Haddad, Superintendent of St. Vrain Valley School District.

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